Success
Galway-based scientists set to contribute to optics of world's largest telescope
Researchers at NUIG are set to leave their mark on the design of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) which is currently under construction in Chile and is due to launch in 2027/28.
The Galway-based team is made up of experts in the area of adaptive optics. They will contribute to the development of MAORY (multi-conjugate adaptive optics relay) — an instrument that 'corrects image distortion' caused by atmospheric turbulence.
It's the same thing that causes planes to shake midair (and scare the living daylights out of us). Airflow affects the way our eyes pick up on an image, sometimes making it appear fuzzy or blurred. Adaptive optics aims to bring those images back into focus so that we might be able to peer farther into space than ever before.
The MAORY project will also involve teams from the Grenoble Institute for Planetary Sciences and Astrophysics and the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Italy.
The Irish governments' decision to join the European Southern Observatory in 2018 provided Irish researchers with the chance to collaborate with other European astronomers on projects such as this.
